At first, this marriage drama about a couple in therapy feels so contrived it’s hard to get through. But outstanding performances turn it into something far more endearing
I did not love the first season of State of the Union (BBC Two), which appeared back in 2019, though I did end up with a grudging respect and admiration for it. It followed Chris O’Dowd and Rosamund Pike as a married couple meeting in the pub before their weekly counselling sessions. It was written by Nick Hornby and directed by Stephen Frears (as is the new series), and each episode, roughly 10 minutes long, featured theatrical verbal sparring about love, marriage and record collecting. It relied heavily on the strength of its two leads, and it was arch, literary and occasionally insufferable. By the end, I was invested in the relationship and was willing them to figure it out. Its brevity gave it a loose, stagey charm.
The second season moves the action to the US, to a coffee shop, where Brendan Gleeson and Patricia Clarkson await their therapists and try to make sense of a changing world. The most interesting choice is their age. Both are in their 60s, and have been married for more than 30 years. As in the first season, there have been affairs, but not recently enough for the wounds to feel raw. Instead, Ellen (Clarkson) is thinking they should probably get divorced, while Scott (Gleeson) is coasting, oblivious.
